Schools

WHS-Produced Immigration Film Debuts

The project is part of a larger documentary about issues in Watsonville.

A short film about immigration issues in the Pajaro Valley produced by three Watsonville High juniors, all children of immigrants, will be screened in San Jose on Monday evening.

Adobe Youth Voices Live! 2012 brings young media makers together from San Jose/Silicon Valley for a public screening of their documentary videos and animations produced through the Adobe Youth Voices program. This philanthropic education program of the Adobe Foundation empowers youth from underserved communities around the globe with digital media skills so they can comment on their world, share their ideas and take action on issues that are important to them.

“Immigration” is part of a series of documentaries produced by this year’s Watsonville High School Video Academy students dealing with issues that affect the Watsonville community and is part of a feature-length documentary, according to Taya Varnichpun, spokeswoman for Edelman Public Relations and the film event.

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The full documentary, "Schools That Change Their community," is by documentary film maker Bob Gliner. The project was a collaboration with WHS students in Video Academy, US History, Science, English and Video Production classes. Students were challenged to look at issues in their community and find solutions to these issues by modeling their strategies after their study of The New Deal, Varnichpun explained.

"Immigration" is short documentary, a condensed version of the full length documentary. It was produced by Dinese Reynoso, Jackie Lopez and Manual Mendoza, who are children of immigrants. Also, Watsonville High is predominatly Latino. About half of the families are from Mexico or Central America.

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Varnichpun said becuse of that, the students had a real shareholder’s interest in the production.

Other youth-made films are from Burnett Middle School, Boynton Continuation School, Carlmont High School, Mt. Pleasant High School, Overfelt High School and Tennyson High School.

The showing is at 6 p.m. Monday at Camera 12 Cinemas, 201 S. 2nd St., San Jose, CA 95113.

The San Jose screening is the fourth in a series of similar events taking place across the United States showcasing thought-provoking, youth-produced media for social change.


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